


“Fridging” on Supernatural and its Infamous Treatment of Women - Subverted

by ArchTroop



Series: Supernatural Meta [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Azazel - Freeform, Fridging, Meta, Supernatural - Freeform, Trope Subversion, YED - Freeform, in contrary to popular belief, yellow eyed demon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2019-09-13 12:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16892364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchTroop/pseuds/ArchTroop
Summary: As a consensus, we all seem to agree about the deaths of Mary, and subsequently - Jess’s - are “fridgings”. TV Tropes lists them as prime examples, too.But, in a traditional/classic SPN-ish way, I would like to argue that “Fridging” on SPN has been subverted from the get go - we just didn’t know it back then.





	“Fridging” on Supernatural and its Infamous Treatment of Women - Subverted

**Author's Note:**

> December 2018... tumblr is on a censorship spree. I realized I have some good meta there, and I really should be backing it all up. So, if any of the casual readers here like meta and thinky thoughts, I hope this finds an audience.

One of the greatest things about the Pilot of SPN is the fact that we are thrown into the story somewhere in the middle of it - we have more then two unaccountable for decades to try and figure out, plus a thousands years long legacy line that we aren’t even suspecting of yet.   
We are shown Mary’s death, and we are shown Jess’s death. Bookends. Both propel the heroes into action. Common. Tragic. 

Yet something is different. 

[“ **A character is killed off**  in a particularly gruesome manner and left  **to be found just to offend or insult someone,**  or to cause someone serious anguish... the doomed character may be killed by natural forces or by a character who doesn't have the intent to cause someone else angst - in this case,  **the intent comes from the writer, who wants to rouse strong emotions in another character**... The term... "fridging"... was popularized by comic book writer Gail Simone (she) compiled a list of instances of  **female comic book characters who were killed off as a plot device**. ” (TV Tropes).](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge)

It is considered a cheap writing ploy, lazy. Non-creative. Plus, women,  _again._  
And maybe, at first it does seems like it. 

So Mary is our first “fridged” character, then.  
Well, I wouldn’t be so sure.

When, seasons later, we get to see the YED and his machinations in the past, we witness a strange thing: A  _female_ character making “The Sacrifice” to save her loved one: Mary selling her  ~~soul~~  unborn son to the devil for John’s life.  
This way, condemning herself and her future.   
The fact she goes into the nursery and gets killed? More of a casualty on YED’s part. I honestly think he could care less. **And it backfired.**  
The fact that he killed her, bit him in the ass - he had to go and make circles and backtrack and rethink his plans and  **SEND BRADY TO FIND A JESS TO KILL in the first place.**  
Because killing Mary? Big mistake. It propelled John into hunting, and Sam and Dean into what they are - and that is NOT an easy target, for either Lucifer not Michael. Seriously, go and rewatch “In The Beginning”. He didn’t want Mary dead. He even wanted to assure her an apple pie life. As long as he isn’t “interrupted”.  
I think, as time passed, and YED had to run all over the USA for little Sammy, he cursed himself to hell and back for killing Mary and not being stealth enough.

Which brings me to Jess. She was created by the YED to be killed. She was conditioned. Her place in Sam’s life was  _premeditated_.   
I wonder how much of Sam’s choice was involved in falling in love with her. Not to question their love, though. That was genuine, in my opinion. But what did she do to make Sam notice her? I wonder how much of it was Brady's doing - “Hey, he likes when girls are.../Sam likes to do that and that...”. Sam cared for Brady, we know that. We don’t know the actual extent of their friendship, but we do know he introduced Jess to him in the first place. All to kill her later. 

And in that regard - Jess was CREATED TO GET FRIDGED BY THE YED. Yes, I argue it wasn’t the writer’s (as in - Kripke’s) fridging act - but  _HIS CHARACTERS’._  (Yes I understand that the character is a tool of the writer, yet it wasn’t as random as another fridgings - like Charlie’s for example - that was solely a writer’s ploy.)

So. Following that logic - Mary and Jess weren’t “fridged” by the writers - but by the YED. Mary - by accident, Jess - on purpose. 

Which, makes me back-step and think.

There  _was_ a fridging, though, and it happened even before that, and it propelled into action those two I’ve just discussed.

 **And it wasn’t a fridging of a woman.**  
It was a fridging of a soulmate (as questionable/arguable that is, is irrelevant).

And again, it was a machination, YED’s machination: killing all of Mary’s loved one to make her desperate enough to take the deal.  
He killed John.

 **John Winchester was the first “fridged” character on the show, people.**  
Not Mary, not Jess.   
And he probably never even knew. 

_And no one ever talks about it._

John was killed off solely to become a bargaining cheap for YED to seduce Mary with. (Her parents too, but he never intended to bring them back - that would be just foolish - they are hunters with contacts and knowledge. Plus it was all rushed over by Dean’s presence. Although....we know that past couldn’t have been changed - guhhh I’m having a headache. In any case, Mary did the best she could in memory of her parents - she named her children after them.)  
It’s all the other way around - Mary was the one to suffer "serious anguish" and get desperate and mad enough.   
  
_**Haven’t the deal been the purpose of this whole ordeal - Mary would have become the Vengeful John Winchester of Supernatural.**_

**And I think this is something to rethink and reconsider:**

## Contrary to popular belief, the first fridged character on Supernatural wasn’t female - but male: and it was John Winchester.


End file.
